


Like an Egg without Salt

by sherleigh



Category: SHINee
Genre: And More Fluff, Fluff, M/M, a wee drabble, with a few curse words thrown in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10046474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherleigh/pseuds/sherleigh





	

“You should go like this.”

 

Kibum pauses his search through his closet to throw a dirty look at Taemin. They’re due to leave in half an hour and he still hasn’t found anything that looks good on him, and he hasn’t done his hair and make-up yet. He should have picked something by now, but nothing seems to fit him right today. Of course, Taemin’s already dressed and ready to go; it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to throw on a random t-shirt and black skinny jeans. It’s cold outside, but Taemin’s probably got a hoodie stashed away somewhere.

 

Speaking of hoodies…

 

“Can you return the grey hoodie that you borrowed from me?”

 

When he’s met with silence, Kibum stops his rummaging to look at Taemin – who is blinking in confusion.

 

“You know, the fluffy grey one that you took from me last week at the restaurant because you were cold?”

 

“Oh, that one.” Taemin steps into the room with his hands in his pockets. “I gave it back.”

 

A slight throb makes itself known at the back of Kibum’s head. He’s topless and cold and he hasn’t had his morning coffee yet. His eyes fall upon a black shirt with pink floral patterns on it, and it looks promising. “No, you didn’t. If you did, it would be here, but it isn’t.”

 

“Well, I don’t have it. All of my clothes in the dorm are on the rack, and your hoodie is not on the rack.” This much is true, Kibum knows. Taemin doesn’t have a lot of clothes to begin with, compared to Kibum who uses his room at the dorm as a sort of storage for his vast quantity of clothes. It comes in handy whenever they have to stay overnight at the dorm to get to the airport early.

 

The shirt pinches around his shoulders. He’s put on a bit of muscle since he started working out again, but so many of his clothes don’t fit him properly anymore. Including this shirt. Now thoroughly annoyed, Kibum starts unbuttoning it. “Did you take it home?”

 

Taemin shrugs. “I can’t remember. I don’t think so.”

 

The top button refuses to become undone. Kibum tugs harder at it, and it pops clean off the shirt. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

“Chill, it’s just a button.” Taemin moves to pick it up off the floor, but sends it rolling under the cupboard with his clumsy fingers. “Whoops, sorr-”

 

“You may not give a shit about how you look, and lucky you, you don’t have to, but some of us do care.” Kibum hangs the shirt back on its hanger. “I care about my clothes, okay? They’re not cheap.”

 

“I know,” Taemin replies, sounding churlish.

 

“Really? Because you don’t seem to care.” Kibum abandons his quest for clothes and turns to face Taemin. “You knew how much I loved that hoodie and I let you borrow it, and you couldn’t even be bothered to keep track of it! Just one fucking hoodie, but no, Lee Taemin refuses to trouble his pretty little head with petty things like returning things he’s borrowed.”

 

“That’s not fair.” Taemin crosses his arms too. “You just asked me out of the blue, how am I supposed to know where it is?”

 

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t even know where it is. For all I know, you could have lost it!”

 

“I didn’t-”

 

“Really? You expect me to believe that? Do you really expect me to believe that it’s not at all possible that you’ve lost my hoodie? You can’t even keep track of your fucking wallet, but somehow this hoodie – which isn’t in the dorm and which isn’t with me – you somehow took care of that but you just don’t know where it is? But it’s not lost?”

 

“What is wrong with you?” Taemin asks, as if Kibum is being unreasonable.

 

“What’s wrong? My boyfriend took my favourite hoodie and lost it, and he won’t even admit it. That’s what’s wrong.”

 

“Fuck you,” Taemin hisses. He stomps out of Kibum’s room and bangs the door shut behind him.

 

“Fuck you too,” Kibum says to the closed door.

 

***

The other three must know that they are fighting. Jinki sticks by his side for the entire trip to the airport, on board and to their hotel in Hong Kong, and Jonghyun and Minho fool around with Taemin.

 

At the hotel, the members look worried as they head up towards their rooms; Kibum and Taemin are sharing a room, as usual, but by this point Kibum is tired; he’s not going to continue the argument or pick a new one anytime soon.

 

Taemin walks behind him, silently reproachful. They unpack their luggage in silence too, and it is only when Kibum changes into his pyjamas that Taemin asks him “What are you going to do?”

 

“Take a short nap.” While the others slept during the flight, Kibum was working on his designs for a collaboration he hopes to do with a friend of his. They have to submit the proposal to a fashion house by the end of the week and Kibum still isn’t happy with the designs he has come up with so far. At the moment, though, he’s too tired to keep his eyes open.

 

Kibum can feel Taemin watching him as he climbs under the thick duvet and turns the lights by his side of the bed off. Then Taemin’s handphone buzzes; the tension of the moment is broken.

 

A few minutes later, the room falls dark. The bed dips as Taemin climbs in too.

 

“Key-hyung?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Your hoodie is at my house.” Taemin holds his phone out and Kibum squints at the screen; someone – probably Taemin’s mother – has laid the hoodie on Taemin’s bed and taken a blurry photo of it.

 

“Ah.” The sight of his hoodie doesn’t bring Kibum the relief he thought it would. Now that the issue of getting his airport look right is no longer an immediate concern, Kibum feels somewhat guilty for reacting the way he did. Yes, Taemin is careless with his belongings, but he’s usually more careful with things borrowed from other people. He’s never actually lost any of Kibum’s stuff before.

 

“I’ll be more careful next time,” Taemin says. That is the response Kibum was looking for when he was berating the other in the morning, but it feels like a hollow victory.

 

“You look nice today.” It’s true. Perhaps that had added to his frustration as well, seeing how pretty Taemin looked despite not trying half as hard as him to manage his appearance at all. Perhaps he’s been frustrated with his own inability to accept that he would never be as good-looking as he wants to be.

 

“Huh?”

“You do.” Kibum reaches over to pat Taemin’s cheek; to accept his apology and give one of his own without speaking any words at all. Taemin leans into the touch, nuzzling into Kibum’s hand; forgiveness silently given.

“Do you want to go to a dim sum place for dinner?”

 

“Without the others?”

 

“If you want.” At Taemin’s nod of assent, Kibum leans in for a kiss. It’s a simple, unhurried one; a small reassurance after their argument earlier in the day. It’s a quiet ‘I love you’ spoken through lips pressed together and gentle hands cupping soft skin. Kibum breaks the kiss first, when a yawn overtakes him. “Sorry.”

 

“I’m tired too,” Taemin says, slipping a hand into Kibum’s to entwine their fingers. “I’m going to dream of all the things I’m going to eat later.”

 

Kibum huffs in laughter, but he dreams of dim sum too, and of Taemin enjoying it with him.

 

 


End file.
